All the Things…or None.

Ever since I burned out on the whole writing/publishing biz in December, I’ve been…well, I guess “pouting” is probably the most accurate term. I tell myself I’m just trying to get back into the flow, or trying to decide the best way to start again, or that I’m just not exactly sure how I want to proceed yet, but the reality is, I’m just throwing a quiet mental temper-tantrum because I know I can’t do everything I want to do the way I want to do it.

Since I can’t do (write/publish) it all, I’m currently doing (writing/publishing) nothing.

Which is a bit ridiculous. And if I keep doing nothing, well, that’s ridiculous too.

I *am* still trying to figure out how I want to move forward – that’s partially an excuse, but there’s truth in it as well. Since I can’t do everything, I need to prioritize, and that’s proving a bit difficult, just because I have some decision paralysis on what I want to cut out.

But there’s no reason I can’t work on one of the projects I know I want to finish this year while I’m noodling all that out. I have a perfectly good novel started (three, in fact, but just one I intend to finish this year), and there’s no good reason I haven’t been working on it for the past few weeks. A couple week’s worth of writing could easily have netted me another 5-10k words (on a book that needs 50-60k total), but instead I’ve been pouting. Which is stupid.

Do not come at me for using the word “stupid”. I can refer to myself however I want, thank you very much, and while I am reasonably intelligent most of the time, I have plenty of stupid moments as well. No sugar-coating here.

In any case, I need to stop focusing on all the stuff I have to set aside for now, and start focusing on what I am perfectly capable of working on right now. I want to finish a novel I’ve already started, so I need to just finish it already, and stop thinking about everything else. The more I think about all the projects, the more depressed I get, but I know from experience that finishing one thing will both make me happier, and motivate me for the next project.

A body in motion tends to stay in motion. A body at rest tends to stay at rest. The hardest thing is to change state from being “at rest” to being “in motion”. We’ve had the same issue with physical movement lately, after having one or both of us sick with whatever for the last solid month. Getting moving again has been a painful process, but necessary for our health. Bodies are meant to move. And mine was getting progressively less content with our minimally-moving state.

Hopefully by the time you read this, I’ll have changed mental states, and started writing forward again.

I don’t have any good tips and tricks for getting unstuck, because I tend to be a “brute force” kind of person and I simply keep prodding myself mentally until I get moving again. But I know not everyone works like that.

What did you do to get moving again last time you were stuck in an “at rest” state? Or are you stuck now, and trying to push forward? Feel free to share – I’m sure I’m not the only one who would be interested to hear how other people deal with this.

**Note as of posting day: I wrote this a week ago, and I’m happy to report that while progress is still slow, I am writing again. Some days it’s only a sentence or two, but I’ll take it. Onward!

Jamie DeBree

Writer | DBA | Dog Wrangler

All the Things…or None.